


Connie Has Calbee

by colorBlip



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: :), Adorable, Animal Bonding, Animals, Bird, Connie has a bird, Connie has a pet, Cute, Dreams, Fluff, I wish Connie had a bird, Jam Buds, Only tagging this as Connverse so you’ll find this, Steven Universe - Freeform, Steven Universe Future, Steven is babey, Wholesome, au i guess, connie maheswaran - Freeform, midnight snacks, no romance here, platonic, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:35:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorBlip/pseuds/colorBlip
Summary: When Connie visits Steven over summer break, she brings along her new friend, who is a bird.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Connie Has Calbee

**Author's Note:**

> Something wholesome for you to read after those intense SUF leaks
> 
> Does any one remember that scene in Rose Buds from SUF where they’re having a sleepover? In the background, you can see that Steven has a framed photo of Connie holding a white bird on his shelf. That one picture inspired this whole fic, and when I saw it I was like 🥺 so I HAD to write something for it. 
> 
> So now I head canon Connie having a pet bird and I stay up late at night imagining an AU with Connie and her bird 🥺🥺
> 
> I hope you like it, and I hope you like Connie’s bird in this fic!

Steven had been waiting all day for this. With summer break started, he now had the whole month to spend with Connie! He watched excitedly from the window in his room, and watched as a car, which he was assuming was being driven by Connie’s parents — pulled up in front of the temple.

He tried to act like he wasn’t very giddy right now, but he soon forgot all about that as he bolted down the stairs to meet with her outside. 

Connie was already headed towards the door, looking over her shoulder as she said something to her mom and dad. The car trunk lifted, and Mrs. Maheswaran got out to unload some more luggage. 

He turned the knob on the door, carelessly pushing it out of his way and rushed over to her with his arms open. “Connie!”

Steven had noticed Connie’s right arm was held out, and there was a white bird perched on it.  _ Is that her bird?  _ She didn’t mention she was bringing a pet. 

Her head jerked in the direction towards him, and her face immediately lit up when she saw him. Connie held out her free arm, and ran to him. “Steven!” 

She gave him a side hug with her left arm, careful to keep her other arm steady. They were caught in a fit of laughter together, and Steven wiped away a tear from his eye with a finger. “Hi, Connie. Is this your bird?” 

She replied with a ‘ _ huh?’  _ at first, but quickly realized what he was referring to. Looking over to her arm, she smiled. 

“Oh, yeah! This is Calbee. He’s a kagu, an endangered species from New Caledonia!” She explains, removing her hugging arm from his neck to run a gentle hand down Calbee’s back. 

Steven nodded in amusement, carefully inching closer towards the bird on her arm. “He looks great! Where’d you find him?” 

“I found him in winter during a field trip. We were at a rainforest, and I found him with something stuck around his wings.” She recalls, her brows furrowing, and a bittersweet smile stretches across her lips. 

He places a hand on her shoulder.

“That’s really nice, Connie.”

Connie must really love this bird. Talking about his backstory clearly made her emotional. Steven never saw Connie as a bird type, or even someone who would want a pet… 

Knowing her, she probably treats him really well. 

He matched her smile, appreciating that Connie would save a hurting animal.

He suddenly didn’t mind the thought of spending the summer with a bird. It was a little new to him, considering he wasn’t  _ great  _ with animals… but he was willing to try it! 

“Why don’t you give Calbee a pat, Steven? He loves it,” Connie proposed, moving her arm closer to him. 

It all starts with recognition. He thought he should introduce himself, to familiarize himself with Calbee. 

Giving a nervous laugh, he reluctantly reaches his arm towards the white bird. He gently touches his small head, running his hand down his back as he felt his soft feathers. “ _ Awww,”  _ he gushes,

“Hey there, little guy! I’m Steven- ACK-“ 

Steven jerks his hand back, jumping backwards a bit as fear clouds his expression. Calbee had pecked his hand, but it was mostly the loud noise he made, that scared Steven.

Connie’s eyes widen, “Are you okay?!” 

“I-Is he supposed to do that?...” He squared his shoulders. 

“Of course not. He’s just a little jumpy when he meets new people.” She giggled a bit, and Steven feared she was laughing at his lack of bravery, especially towards a pet that’s not even  _ half _ his size.

“But don’t worry! He’ll warm up to you in  _ no time _ .” Connie smiles reassuringly. Steven could only take her word for it…

Steven jumped again when the car suddenly honked. He felt pathetic for being scared by a car. He forced a laugh, smiling sheepishly as he kneaded his shoulder. 

Thankfully, Connie didn’t notice. She looked over her shoulder towards the car, humming in realization. “That’s probably my dad. I need to get the rest of my bags, okay? Mind holding Calbee for me?” Connie smiles that oblivious smile. Did she not see how…  _ not exactly comfortable  _ he was around Calbee? 

He didn’t have a choice at this point. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face a and he grudgingly nodded. “Okay…”

“Great, thanks! Just hold your finger out, like this. It’s the best way to handle a bird for beginners,”

So he mimicked her demonstration, hoping silently that Calbee’s nails weren’t sharp enough to make blood—

“And there!” She made a bridge with the side of her arm on to Steven’s shaky finger, grinning as Calbee slowly crawled over. “You don’t have to stay still. Just be natural. Okay, be right back!” 

_ Right _ .

Be natural…

Even though Connie said it was okay to move, he stayed stiff anyway. Better safe than sorry. He kept his currently  _ bird occupied  _ hand a distance away from his body, keeping his gaze focused on it. 

Calbee was mostly still, but he’d often make little noises and turn his head. Thankfully, his claws weren’t sharp at all, and he assumed that it was Connie who kept them clipped. 

Sooner or later, Connie returned with her hands full with suitcases. After she waved her parents goodbye, they went inside the temple and put away Connie’s things. 

She brought a purple sleeping bag to put on the floor in Steven’s bedroom, some clothes, her violin, and more clothes. Also, she had a cage for Calbee. Steven was very relieved when he learned that. 

When they went inside, the gems were all sitting around, in which Connie greeted Pearl with a hug, Amethyst with some sort of handshake, and Garnet with a thumbs up.

Steven and Connie unpacked her things upstairs, while Calbee explores his new space for the month. He seemed to take a liking to the top of Steven’s bed, much to his dismay.

It was a little later in the night, and all of the gems were in their rooms. Connie was laying on her sleeping bag, reading the last chapter of some book. She had one of her legs propped up on her other knee, gently kicking it as Calbee just relaxed there, on her foot. 

Steven was on his bed, laying in his stomach. He had his chin propped up on his hand, listlessly flipping through the boring channels on TV. There was nothing on except some old reruns of Sobbing Dinner Acquaintances, some cheesy horror movies and those cooking tutorials that no one _literally_ ever watches. 

The room had been quiet for a while, and Steven was about to suggest that they go to bed before he noticed Connie putting on her shoes, and a sweater, with Calbee standing on her head. 

“Connie? Where are you going?” 

“Oh, I’m going to take Calbee on his routine fly. It’s great for him at night, because it helps him to practice escaping predators.” She said, looking down at her smartphone while she pulled up the stopwatch app. 

Steven wanted to laugh. But he didn’t.

She must put a lot of thought into this stuff. Did she plan on releasing him back into the wild soon? Why would he need to practice escaping predators?

He inched himself to the edge of the bed, jumping to his feet when he got an idea. “Why don’t I go with you?”

Connie looked up from her phone, smiling invitingly. “Sure! But… it’s pretty cold outside. You should wear your jacket.”

“Oh, yeah. You guys go ahead, I’ll meet you out there in a second.” 

She nods, heading down the steps. It wasn’t long before Steven made it outside and met with Connie again. He plopped down on the sand and watched them do their thing.

Connie made a scoop with her hands and picked up her bird off of her head. She smiled, and held her hands up towards the sky. “Go on, buddy,” she said gently, careful not to push him.

Calbee squawked, slowly spreading his wings. He shifted, waiting for a gust of wind to blow by before taking flight. 

“And, he’s off!” Connie said, letting her arms fall to her side. She quickly started the stopwatch on her phone, setting it on the sand.

“He’s not familiar with this area, so we’ll see how he does,” She lifted her chin, following Calbee with her eyes as he flew a few feet above them. 

When she looked back down, she saw Steven watching her endearingly. “Connie, you’re such a good bird mom. I’m so glad you found Calbee.” 

Connie felt her cheeks tingling. She thanked him, and took a seat beside him. “How does Calbee even know what to do, anyway?”

Connie raised her eyebrows, “When I first rescued Calbee, I started teaching him to fly, right away. I took him outside at night, so I wouldn’t be caught by security. Whenever he sees the night sky, that’s how he knows it’s time to fly.”

Another gust of wind swept over them, blowing through Connie’s short hair. “And when I found him, I started doing research to try and find what kind of bird he is. It turns out that he’s an endangered species, which is sad. I wonder how many of him are left.”

Steven looked up to see Calbee in the air. A few of his white feathers had fallen to the ground. “Maybe one day, Calbee will be able to meet them.” 

Connie smiles at his proposition before she checked her stopwatch. It had been 3 minutes since Calbee started flying. She decided to stop the timer, and head back inside. The breeze had gotten  _ that  _ much more frigid, and she was not about to catch a cold over the summer. 

“Three minutes. Alright, Calbee!” She made a cup around her mouth with her hands, calling out towards the sky before holding her hands out, in a scoop just like when she had released him.

Calbee flew in a few circles before he came back down, and landed perfectly back in to Connie's little hands. She smiled, and tilted her head as a gesture for Steven to follow her.

After they went back inside, Connie changed into her night gown. Steven assumed that she’d put Calbee in his cage overnight, but he was wrong. The girl clambered into her sleeping bag, before turning over and zipping up the blanket halfway, so that she wouldn’t be stuck. Her bird slept right next to her face, which he had to admit was  _ pretty adorable.  _ Connie fell asleep with a smile on her face, which he didn’t know was possible until now.

A bit after, Steven rolled over as well. He pulled his blankets over himself and snuggled into his pillow, smiling in the darkness until the wonderful thing called ‘ _ sleep’  _ took him. 

Sleep is nice. Steven likes to sleep. It’s a temporary reality escape. All of his worries… his problems.. and his emotions? Blip, gone!

_ Dreams. _

_ Dreams are nice. _

He was on some sort of tropical island on a vacation. It must’ve been father-son bonding time, because the only person he recognized was his dad. They were at a ukulele lesson, with a room occupied with a few other people of Hawaiian descent. Steven was a little embarrassed to tune his instrument, considering he hasn’t played in a while. He insists on his dad going first, before excusing himself that he was all of a sudden hungry. 

He gets up, and rushes to the Hors d'oeuvre table, stuffing his face with…

Wait a second…

Why do these snacks taste like…

_ Feathers?... _

Kinda salty.

_ Feathers?! _

_ “Gah!” _

Steven bursts awake, immediately spotting a small being, standing on his chest. There wasn’t much light in the room, but if he had to guess, he’d assume that it was Calbee who had woken him. 

There was indeed, a white feather in his mouth, in which he immediately spat out. Calbee made a small noise before shaking his whole body, which caused more feathers to fall on to Steven and his bed. 

He rolled his eyes, and let out a long sigh. Steven scooped Connie’s bird, and gently set it on his pillow, despite being slightly annoyed. He sat up, and threw the duvet off of himself, and swung his legs around to sit at the edge of his bed.

Running a hand through his hair, he looked around. Everything looked so different at night, especially his own room. There wasn’t much light coming in, except for the moonlight shining through the windows. It illuminated everything in its path to have a gentle, blue light spilling over it.

He spotted Connie in her sleeping bag on the floor, who was still sound asleep. She had her arm thrown up over her head, and somehow her hair had gotten all ruffled. He could hear a light snore coming from her, and a bit of mumbling every now and then. Maybe she was talking to someone in her dreams?

During the time that he was distracted, Calbee had made his way from being set on top of a pillow, to beside the sleep-deprived boy. Steven tensed and let out a quiet yelp, 

He didn’t know it was possible, but he made — what was very close to eye contact — with a bird. Calbee blinked, tilting his head to the side with a small chirp.

Steven slumped, and his face scrunched up in anger. “I’m going to get a snack.”

He quickly rose from his seat on the bed, and headed towards the stairs. His head turned in Calbee’s direction as he walked, keeping his gaze set on one little bird, who just sat and quietly chirped. 

Once he made it to the bottom, he went into the refrigerator, flinching when the light hit his face when he pulled the door open. 

_ We really need to go grocery shopping.  _

He settled on an orange, carefully pushing the door closed to make sure he didn’t wake anyone by making noise.

He only half expected to see his best friend’s bird standing on the counter when he whirled around, just looking up at him with those small, unblinking eyes. He tensed once again, holding his midnight snack close to his chest, as if it were going to protect him in any case. 

It sent a shiver down Steven’s spine for a second. He wilted in relief when he discovered that it wasn’t a long lost gem whom he had unfinished business with, and that it was actually just a small, harmless animal. 

He began to peel his orange, leaning on to the counter as he did so. 

“Look, little guy…” he sighed, his expression loosening.

“I’m a pacifist. So… can we just— GAH!”

An unwanted flashback of his first encounter with Calbee returned. The bird had pecked at his fruit, and that rightfully infuriated him. “What? Do you want some, or something?!” He yelled quietly, if that was even possible.

Calbee chirped in return, and Steven rolled his eyes.

He gazed up at the ceiling, trying to ignore his hungry guest. 

He didn’t  _ really  _ mind sharing… it’s not like he could say ‘please’, or anything.

Steven looked back down. 

“Fine, you can have some…” he conceded with a small smile. He peeled a wedge out of the fruit and placed it in front of Calbee, who immediately began digging his beak into it.

He watched Calbee while he ate as well, and an endearing expression found its way on his face. Calbee ended up only eating a little, in which Steven shamelessly finished after the bird showed no more interest in his slice of orange.

Steven gathered all of the orange peels off of the countertop and trashed them before scooping his new friend up, and heading back upstairs. 

He saw Connie in a completely different position from when he left the room, which he quietly giggled at. Her sleeping bag was all messy now, and her pillow ended up across the room? Steven never imagined Connie as a wild sleeper.

He placed Calbee on his pillow before he clambered back into bed. He pulled the duvet over himself and rolled over on his side. Glancing up at the bird on his pillow before whispering “Goodnight, buddy.”. His eyes fluttered closed, and this time, he fell asleep quickly. 

When the sun beamed through the windows the next morning, Connie would rub her blurry eyes and see how Steven and Calbee ultimately fell asleep together in the most adorable manner, in which she would gush about all day.   
  


**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaa so what do you think? Do you like Calbee?? Leave me your feedback! I love hearing what you guys have to say. Thank you for reading ily see you next time ❤️🐦😘😭🥺
> 
> Fun fact: Calbee is named after my favorite Japanese food company:’) love him pls


End file.
